Development of a Culturally and Contextually Responsive Social Emotional Learning Intervention for Adolescent Refugees in Tijuana, Mexico: A Participatory Action Research Approach  (Poster 43)

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

The United Nations Children’s Relief Fund (UNICEF) estimates that in 2020, almost half of the global refugee population were children, and 1 in 3 children living outside their countries of birth were considered refugees. These children face an intertwined set of adversities throughout multiple stages of their displacement that places them at a high risk for experiencing disruptions to their social, emotional, and cognitive development. There is a burgeoning interest among the humanitarian aid community to harness the power of social emotional learning (SEL) in ameliorating some of these consequences. However, many extant programs have been designed using imperialist mindsets that conceptualize refugees as inept at guiding their own growth. Further, the use of frameworks originally designed for use within stable western nations in emergency contexts has led to ample cultural and contextual incoherence.


Situated in Tijuana, Mexico, this dissertation project has engaged refugee caregivers and shelter directors in the co-creation of a brief SEL program titled VAMOS! to support refugee adolescents’ social development during active displacement. In collaboration with La Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and Save the Children, Mexico, this culturally responsive program was implemented across multiple shelters serving refugees and Internally Displaced Populations (IDPs). Through a longitudinal blocked randomized experimental design, participants at each shelter are randomized into receiving either VAMOS! or a popular SEL program designed by a major international NGO. This poster will delineate the Participatory Action Research approach that informed the development of an SEL program that was culturally and socio-politically attuned to the needs of this population.

Author

• Zainab Hosseini, Stanford University
  Presenting Author